


Don’t Judge On What You See

by petroltogo



Series: War is for Children [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bad Decisions, Bullying, Canon-typical Lack of Competent Adults, Character Study, Family Dynamics, Gen, Gryffindor Court, Gryffindor House Dynamics, Gryffindors Are Not The Moral Highground In This Fic That's For Sure, Harry Is The Dark Lord's Equal, House Hierarchies, King of Gryffindor, Moral Ambiguity, POV Outsider, Questionable Life Choices All Around, Relationship Study, a million sides to the same story, do not copy to another site
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:08:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24608920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/petroltogo/pseuds/petroltogo
Summary: Harry Potter and his friends, from first through seventh year and beyond, through the eyes of those who watched them grow into the adults they will become.Alternative POVs, drabbles and oneshots that accompany the series "War is for Children" — though for the moment mainly focused on events during "Better be Gryffindor".
Series: War is for Children [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1259006
Comments: 17
Kudos: 327
Collections: read these later





	Don’t Judge On What You See

**Author's Note:**

> This collection of ficlets and drabbles will probably never be finished as such, since it's just an opportunity to share additional content and insights into this universe. I hope you enjoy the snippets all the same!

There’s something you should know about Fred and George Weasley and it’s not that no food in their vicinity is safe to eat or that they love their family deeply and fiercely or that they’re terribly clever when they want to be or that there’s a list of people they do not prank that they’ve created in their third year because it was never necessary before that time, because they never had a name to put on such a list until then.

All of those things are important. All of them should be kept in mind when dealing with the Weasley twins — and none are such a closely guarded secret that people can’t be expect to realize these things on their own. But there’s something else there too: Fred and George do not forgive.

[Because even when one might, the other cannot tolerate a slight against their other half. Will never tolerate it. Will never let it _go_.]

It’s not a secret, really. Sometimes, though, when there’s a big family with bright hair and freckled noses and kind hearts, these things are harder to see than they should be.

* * *

Fred is stretched out on his bed, eyes closed, his head resting comfortably in George’s lap. Lee’s busy defending his choice of pet to McGonagall and ever since Travis got himself ingratiated to Blevins and his lot, he’s been spending most evenings in the common room, fawning for scraps of attention.

"What a mess." George sags against the headboard.

Fred hums.

"I can’t believe Blevins exiled the first years."

"What was he supposed to do?"

" _Not_ act like he’s panicking at the first sight of a tiny firstie’s shadow?" George asks wryly.

Fred pinches him, but his lips twitch. They both know better than to hold certain conversations out loud. Gryffindor isn’t a safe place to speak your mind — not about these things.

"Still. Potter doesn’t deserve it." George’s voice is quieter now, a low thrum, for all that the heat underneath it could spark an inferno at any given time. Fred loves that about his brother. It makes people think he’s the nice one, the sweet one — because they are twins and for as long as there are two of them, other’s will never stop seeing them in comparison to one another — just because he’s quieter. [Because he likes to be Fred when he _snaps_.]

Fred shrugs. "There’s always one," he says after a moment, when it becomes clear that George expects him to spell it out. His twin does that sometimes. Doesn’t just want to know what Fred thinks — he always does — but how Fred will put it into words.

[ _There’s always one_ , Fifth year Sandra Buckwinkle had murmured last year, when Blevins had been a _nobody_ laying out rules like he had the Merlin given right to dictate their lives.

Neither Fred nor George have ever done well with rules.]

George sighs. "Maybe. But you can’t tell me Potter deserved that reaction to a bloody question."

Fred tilts his head back and levels his twin with a slow glance. Watches George’s eyebrows rise in surprise.

"You think Potter’s a genuine threat?" his twin asks incredulously.

Fred purses his lips, mind flashing back to the wild-haired boy with arms to skinny to properly lift his luggage. Who looked at their mother like she would snap any moment and attack him. Who watched them through narrowed eyes like he’d defend his trunk with his life if he had to.

"No."

George squints, considering. "But—"

"But." Fred agrees.

 _He could be_.

George is silent for a long moment, but Fred knows better than to think his twin is done. There’s still the matter of—

"And Ron?"

—their youngest brother, after all.

Exile can be a cruel punishment. But it’s worse the older you get, because that’s when connections and power begin to matter more than passing your classes. And it’s not like the perfects have ever done much more than lead the firsties to the common room on their first night and occasionally scold them for being stupid. The firsties will manage. And if not.

Fred smiles, a little sad, because there’s a stupid kid that’s been scrambling as far away from every plushy as possible ever since they changed his teddy bear into a giant spider sleeping a couple of doors away that’s gonna have to deal with an undeserved punishment for the next few weeks. But.

 _There’s always one_. [ _Every throne outlives its king_.]

"Ron will be fine," Fred says and that’s that.

* * *

Ron is not fine.

George would be blind, deaf and stupid to believe that ridiculous notion and he is none of those things. Neither is Fred.

In their defense, Ron _had_ been fine. At first. Ron and Potter and the rest of the first years had — predictably — banded together and proceeded run amok in the castle. And sure, there’d been a time or two where they’d taken the time to tease them about walking in the wrong direction and dropping other hints here and there, but overall it’s been fine. Ron had been fine and no one could accuse Fred and George of foul play.

That’s more important than either of them like to admit.

[They didn’t use to share a bed. Not at Hogwarts at least. Not until the distance between became a security risk. Not until Fred messed up and almost—]

At first, George was disgusted by the escalating violence against the firsties for loosing a couple of bloody house points. By now, he’d long left disgusted in the dust and had reached a level of simmering, murderous fury that would have the more intuitive members of their family nervously edging away from him. Alas, Percy is too busy brown-nosing Blevins — to secure their family’s future despite Ronald’s screw-ups or so he insists — and Ron can't be found in the same room with any Gryffindor upper years for longer than a couple of minutes at best.

The firsties really have closed rank around each other. Just like Fred had insisted they would, the first time they had this particular conversation.

"Potter needs a push or he’ll just be content living in the shadows," George’s twin had said with that serene calm that only George can tell is forced.

"And if he doesn’t push back?" George had asked because there was a lot they were putting on the line here. And George would do many things for Fred, for himself, more than is perhaps advisable, but he can't in good conscience put Ron and the other kiddies in this sort of explosive situation without back-up.

"Then hopefully Blevins will lose enough respect by continuing to harass a couple kids before we have to step in."

It wasn’t the best of plans, but it was one George could live with seeing through. At least, that’s what he’d thought at the time. It’s getting harder though. To see the way Ron curls his arms around his food like he thinks someone’s gonna take it away. Watch them grow paler, thinner, more wary. Listening to the insults and sit back and do _nothing_.

[Nothing that can be traced back to them, at least. Not when it concerns Gryffindors. The other houses, now, they are free game. Always have been. Lately, it’s the only thing that makes George smile.]

Today, some utter idiot pushed Longbottom down the stairs and it’s only luck that the kid could be fixed up by Madam Pomfrey instead of being sent straight to St. Mungos.

"It’s getting out of control," George says softly. "If we let it go on any longer—"

"I know."

Fred is a solid warmth behind him, one arm wrapped around George’s torso, keeping him close.

It was fine, a fun game even, when it was all about dropping helpful hints to the kids without giving the game away. There’s nothing fun about it anymore. Blevins has gone too far against Potter to pull back now without losing face. And Potter, in return, doesn’t seem willing to give an inch. It’s a dangerous combination and with every moment the situation drags on, more people will get hurt.

"We need to cut this short," George says because they’ve been waiting for two weeks and Potter and his friends haven’t given a sign that they have the means or the will to strike back hard enough to create some protection for themselves.

Fred doesn’t answer, which is George’s first clue. Still, sometimes things need to be clarified, even between them.

"You think we should wait longer?" George asks and doesn’t know what answer he’s hoping for.

Fred remains calm and still behind him, warm breath against his nape.

George closes his eyes. "You think we should wait."

Fred’s arm tightens around him, to the point where the grip is almost too tight, borderline painful, the way it had been for months after— after.

"Fine." It’s a sigh of resignation, for all that there is no such thing as winners and losers between the two of them. "We’ll wait."

* * *

No one’s looking at them. Of course not. Not with the spectacle Potter’s making of himself, Ron and Ginny — their little siblings, safe and sound, _thank fucking Merlin, Potter and everyone else who had a hand in that miracle_ — at his back.

Fred’s hand clasps George’s behind their backs and though neither of them are so much as looking into Blevin’s direction, or each other’s for that matter, George knows his twin is smiling.

"Yeah," he says softly in response to his twin’s unasked question, his gaze fixed on the captivating sight Potter makes. [The dried blood on Ron’s forehead, the unhealthy pallor of Ginny’s skin.] "It really is."

* * *

_I wonder what you would sacrifice for your twin_ , Blevins had told Fred three weeks After, voice soft, a mockery of kindness.

[Later, Fred had clung to George tight enough to bruise and had whispered an endless murmur of "I don’t know"s into the skin above his collarbone and George had understood, suddenly, what hatred meant.]

George meets Fred’s eyes, unafraid of the core of ice he sees in them, of everything they have done for a mad scheme of revenge that might yet fail spectacularly — of the little brother whose health and happiness they are putting at risk — and he thinks _now we know_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of you asked about the twins in particular during the events of "Better be Gryffindor". As you can probably imagine from this chapter, I had a very clear idea about their actions and intentions, but there simply wasn't a way to include it in the main fic, since all the firsties are completely clueless about it.  
> This may not be what you expected or even what you hoped for, but while I love the twins my personal interpretation of the characters always tends towards the darker shades of moral grey with them. Despite the vagueness regarding their personal trauma, I hope this gave you some clarity on the first years' experiences from an outside POV. More snippets like this will probably follow if you guys are interested and my muse cooperates.  
> If you have a moment, please let me know in a comment what you think about this version of the twins!


End file.
